Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1887-08-13
Heatlne and veatilatinx.

Heating and Eeatilatins.
Warm and pure air are equally as inn
portant factors IN our lives as good food,
and although even the least civilized of
people have managed by some means
to keep their dwellings warm, it was
not until comparatively recent times
that any attention was given to SYSTEM
attic heating and perfect ventilation.
The dwelling, as means of protection
against the weather, may be regarded
to some extent rs an enlarged garment,
and indeed the difference between q
loose mantle and the tent of nomad is
not very great In order to add to the
comfort which any shelter provides, man
has sought from the earliest times to OBJ
tain some adequate method of heating
his domicile. His efforts in this direction
were for long period confined to build
ing fire of wood upon the naked earth.
In the oldest dwellings of which we have
any knowledge the fire was made upon
hearth of stone, as the ruins of the
lake dwellings show. Then in the DAYS
of the ancient Hebrews and Egyptians
rude fire apparatus was in use, which
served after fashion the purposes of
their factories and foundries. Still
stoves and chimneys and CRATES were
not known until centuries later, for not
until the beginning of the middle ages
did the Smoke catcher" of the ancients
give place to something better. Char
coal was the ordinary fuel. and turf was
also used, the evidence of which has
been found at Pompeii and at other ex-
humed places. The first mention OF
hard coal is made in A. d. 800, for at
that time history tells us of combusti-
BILE material which the smiths of Greece
employed for their fires. Not until the
twelveth century, however, was the
chimney in general use throughout
Europe. According to Tomlinson and
Turner, In their work of heating and
ventilation in England. down to the
time OF William the Conqueror, the in
habltants dwelt in straw-thatched huts
partltloned into two rooms, in order
that near the family of the master the
servants might be sheltered. In the
front and principal room was q mann
moth common hearth, over which in the
roof was little tower to make q draugh
that should carry off the smoke. Long
after this came primitive sort of f1ue,
which developed later into the old-fash-
Toned chimney-corner of our far-off
grandfathers, whose enormous capacity
embraced whole family and supplied
them with cheering warmth. And this
kind of fireplace and chimney con-
tinued In vogue, with no improvement
in its technical construction, until the
latter part of the last century, when two
| Americans, BENJAMIN Franklin and
Count Kumford, began to busy them
selves with the heating question.
Franklin separated the fireplace from
the chimney and led the draugh after
short ascent downward again, in order
that it might pass through pipe be-
meath the floor, and again through the
chimney into the outer air. This sort
of stove has always been called the
Franklin or Pennsylvania stove. Rum
ford allowed the characteristic peculiari-
ties of the fireplace to remain, but
brought it further forward into the
room, narrowing the chimney at the
height of the fireplace opening
to so small size that only a
SleuloT uu0 Was lelt 10 carry Oh Gu0
smoke. Then hampers were invented
and other improvements made. until
open freplaces of the present day are
we'll adapted to the purpose for which
they are designed, so far as good VEN
tilation is concerned, although their
heating capacity is rery small, because
the hot air for the most part escapes
through the chimney. Therefore. for
cold weather, as everybody knows, the
open fireplace is not adapted. 1t is apt
to warm one side of the body only, while
the other side freezes If only some
arrangement could be devised whereby
this objection might be overcome and
the imperfections of the CRATE fire be
rectifed, how much it would be pre-
ferred by everybody for its free, bright
flames, which shed fitful and magical
light throughout the room, rendering it
more "ivable" and suffusing it with q
poetic charm while their fantastic play
is observed. But until that time comes
and fuel is far cheaper those who would
like CRATE fires must fain content them
selves with stoves, that are more prac-
tical, if less poetic.-Ne,u York Com